


Tethered

by daneicole



Series: RWBY Fics [6]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22681264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daneicole/pseuds/daneicole
Summary: "If I could kiss you again, would it feel less like the end?"- Tether, Leo Xia
Relationships: Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long
Series: RWBY Fics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1383439
Kudos: 10





	1. Intertwined

_Slowly, slowly, our branches intertwine..._

One visit led to a few more visits, and Summer had become a significant presence in his house. He didn’t find it out of the ordinary for Summer to stay over. After all, they were good teammates, and it was Summer who had helped him woo Raven after graduating from Beacon. Giving her shelter was enough to give it back.

“I figured Yang needed a babysitter,” Summer told him when she first visited. “It’s not like I have a lot of missions to take because I’m mostly working for Oz.” 

“But, Summer, I don’t have that much money to pay you,” Tai said worriedly. 

Summer chuckled. “You don’t have to pay me, Tai. Think of it as me paying forward all the times you’ve helped me at Beacon.” 

And that was that. Tai set-off prepare the spare room in the house, since he was going to have a new member in the household. Sometimes, Summer would go back home to her family, but she stayed over at Tai’s for the most part. In the next several days that followed, Summer had become a mainstay. She would help around the house, much to Tai’s chagrin since he didn’t want to bother Summer too much. Summer would shoo him off and insist that she pull her weight around the house, saying that she was fortunate enough to be living under Tai’s roof. 

“Besides, not everyone can open up their houses to Huntsmen and Huntresses,” she told him once. “Especially someone like me.”

Having silver eyes wasn’t some sort of perk for Summer, and she knew that such a trait would often attract trouble more than fame. She certainly didn’t miss the rumors of the Grim Reaper losing their eyesight after one bad altercation with bandits, which led to the legendary Huntsman’s name to sink into the shadows of obscurity. 

Wee little Yang had gotten used to seeing the familiar white cloak hanging around the house, and she had grown fond of tugging at it whenever Summer wore it during their afternoon walks. When Summer puts it on before leaving for a mission, Yang would cry and pull it harder, and Tai had to pry his daughter from the cloak to keep it from tearing. 

Funny enough, Tai had often found himself wanting to tug at the cloak, too. 

The branches that had been their selves began to intertwine when Tai and Summer had grown used to seeing each other in the house. They handled the chores like clockwork, they didn’t need to tell the other what needed to be done. They were talking more often than they did when they were still at Beacon. They were both in each other’s thoughts whenever they were away from the house. Tai would hurriedly leave his desk at Signal just so he could get home in time to cook Summer’s favorite meals. Summer would finish her missions more quickly just so she wouldn’t miss Tai’s home-cooked food. 

It was a funny thing, and both of them did not fail to notice it. It then became a constant thought in their heads, and a cause of odd sensations within their chests. 

The branches began to twist themselves into place one night when the two of them were at the porch. The dishes had been done, Yang was tucked into bed, and the only noises they could hear were the crickets chirping in the nearby forest. Both of them were quiet, yet they were both aching to put into words what they had been harboring inside their hearts for quite some time now. Tai began to thank Summer for all the help she had given, and Summer, who was not one to take a compliment at that time, merely shrugged it off and countered Tai’s thanks by telling him that he was the one who helped the most. It turned into a contest of good deeds, neither of them wanting to own up for the support that they gave each other, regardless if it was given consciously or not. It then reached the point where Summer said that Tai shouldn’t get used to having her around. She said it in hopes that Tai would stop over-selling her for things that any other person could have done, but she wasn’t ready at what Tai said in return. 

“Then don’t leave,” Tai said. 

“What?” was Summer’s terse response. 

“Stay with us, Summer. Stay with Yang.” Tai wrung his hands nervously, as if he was hesitating on what he was going to say next. 

“Stay with me,” he said. 

Summer was taken aback at those words, and the tightening around her chest began to dissipate. It was as if she was relieved that Tai wanted her to stay, that he wanted her around. Then she realized the complexities of being with Tai. Raven was still out there, and slim as the chances were, she might come back. Being with Tai would mess everything up. 

“But what about Raven?” Summer heard herself ask. 

She didn’t mean to say it, but the words left her mouth before she could stop herself. 

“She would have come back sooner if she wanted to, right?” Tai asked in return. 

It had been two years since Raven left, and they heard little about her since then—however, there were no hints that she was coming back. 

Tai had a point. 

Still, Summer wanted to protest. She wanted to convince herself that it wasn’t right. Her turbulent thoughts ground to a halt when Tai crouched down in front of her and reached out for her hand. 

Tai had rough, calloused hands, but they were as warm as the fire at the hearth and gentle as the light breeze of the mountain wind when needed be. 

“Stay with me, Summer,” Tai said, smiling. “For both our sakes.” 

When he lifted his hand to caress her cheek, Summer didn’t flinch, nor did she try to shove it away. She stayed in her seat even as Tai slowly rose up and drew himself closer. 

“Will you stay with me?” Tai asked. 

Summer knew it was a losing fight, so she conceded with a smile and nodded. 

“Of course.” 

Their branches solidly intertwined at the first touch shared between their lips. 


	2. The Time We Have Left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If only he knew.

_ Hold me, hold me, we don’t have much more time... _

If he only knew how much longer they were going to have her, he would have given her more hugs, more kisses, more hours under the starry night skies with Yang nestled between them. If he knew that she wasn’t going to be with them for a long time, he would have asked for more of her touch, her voice.

If only he knew.

He would have told her, “Let me hold you more than I do now.”

He would have told her, “Let me kiss you more than I do now.”

He would have told her, “Let me make you laugh more than I do now.”

He would have told her, “Let me see your smile more than I do now.”

He would have told her, “Let me wipe away your tears, more than I do now.”

He would have told her, “Let me love you more than I do now, for we don’t have much more time.”

It deeply pained him not to know how much time he had left with her.


	3. Without Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first several days were the hardest.

_ How could I sit at this breakfast table alone, when your hands—laced in mine—made it a home? _

The old dining table had been in the house for the longest time, but to Tai, it only bore that much significance when Summer shared seats with them there.

Back then he would set the table, and Summer would tend to Yang and Ruby and have them settled in their seats. They would have a rather noisy breakfast, but Tai didn’t mind. He loved hearing their voices, regardless if Yang was clamoring for more pancakes or if Ruby started to cry after a cookie slipped from her grasp as she ate. Summer would be the loudest of them all as she gently hushed them down and gave them what they wanted. 

And as the kids ate their food, Summer would reach out to Tai’s vacant hand and hold it.

Now, as he sat alone at the table, everything around him felt so foreign, so out of place. 

\---

_ Catch me, catch me, my legs aren’t what they used to be... _

He asks himself what the point was in getting out of bed to live another day when she was no longer there.

_ Do it for your daughters _ , he scolds himself.

He sits up, swings his legs off the bed, but he couldn’t bring himself to stand up. His legs weren’t up for it. Nevertheless, he tries again and stands up swiftly. He staggers, and he stops just in front of his set of drawers, where a framed photo of Summer was sitting atop of it.

_ Nice catch, Rose _ , he thinks to himself.

He walks slowly, one careful step after the other, until he reaches the door of his daughters’ bedroom and knocks on it gently before stepping in to wake them.


	4. Memories of Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She'd come to mind at times.

_ Scold me, scold me, but you patch me when I bleed... _

He cut himself with the knife when he tried cooking the other day, and Yang rushed to his aid after she heard him cry out from the kitchen. Upon seeing the blood trickling from her father’s finger, Yang immediately took out the med kit and got him to sit at the kitchen table.

“You should have called me before you started messing around here,” Yang grumbled as she treated the wounded finger.

“You sound like your mother,” Tai said with a chuckle.

“I never knew my mother,” Yang said.

“I meant Summer,” Tai told her.

Yang’s hands froze and she looked up at her father. “Oh. Do I, now?”

“She scolds us a lot when we mess up during group activities back in Beacon,” Tai told her. “The same way you did just now.”

“It would be more fun if she were the one scolding you right now.”

Tai sighed and ruffled his daughter’s unkempt hair. “I would have loved to see that.”

Ruby then ran up to the kitchen with  Zwei following close behind.

“I heard Daddy shout, what happened?” Ruby asked.

“He got sloppy and cut his finger,” Yang said. “Come here and give it a kiss, I just finished putting the plaster on.”

Ruby rushed to her father’s side and proceeded to give the finger a light kiss. The three of them prepared  dinner later on.

\---

_ Early morning, I sit up on our bed, you only greet me inside my lonely head... _

“Get up, Tai.”

His eyes snapped open in an instant. For a moment he thought she was beside him, crooning softly in his ear to wake him up. He turned around, only to find an empty space. He lay on his back and faced the ceiling, sighing deeply at yet another memory of her. He turned to the clock on the wall and realized that he had to prepare breakfast for the three of them.


	5. Alas...

_ Now your nightshirt is hung up on a wire, to convince me you never left like a liar... _

“I won’t be long,” Summer said, putting on her white cloak.

“Are you sure? This is a heavy mission if you ask me,” Tai said as he helped her pack. “Did Oz give you this?”

Summer didn’t answer  right away, then she turned around and smiled at Tai. “I’ll be back, Tai. Don’t forget to have my nightshirt ready when I get home.”

“I’ll hang it on the wire where you can see it.”

Summer then picked up her satchel and gave Tai a kiss. Yang and Ruby were waiting at the door to see their mother off. Both of the children’s faces did not fail to show how anxious they were. Summer knelt down in front of them and rested her hands on their cheeks.

“I’ll make sure to get this done as quick as possible,” Summer said. “Take care of each other, and look out for your father while I’m gone, okay?”

“Yeah, Mom, will do,” Yang said. 

“Hey, it’s not like I’m the one who needs a lot of supervision,” Tai said with a chuckle.

“Be back for Game Night, okay?” Ruby whimpered.

Summer gazed fondly at her daughter. “I will, my little rose, I will.”

Ruby raised her pinky. “Swear on that?”

Summer let out a laugh and clung on Ruby’s finger with her own. “Of course.”

Summer turned to Yang once more and nodded. Yang nodded in return and pulled Ruby closer to her side. Summer rose and nodded at Tai before she turned to leave. Tai took in the sight of his wife as she walked out the door.

Summer didn’t look back, like she’s always done when she leaves. For a moment, Tai felt something ominous, and he called out to her once more.

“What is it, Tai?” Summer asked.

_ Don’t leave, I’m hanging by a thread... _

“Come home as fast as you can, alright?” Tai said.

“It’ll be like I never left at all,” Summer said.

With that, she left the three of them. Summer was soon out of sight, and Ruby began sniffing. Tai picked up his youngest daughter to console her, and Yang called  Zwei over for his bath. 

None of them knew that it was the last time they’d see Summer walk out their door.

\---

_ If I could kiss you again, would it feel less like the end? Like I didn’t just lose a friend? Like my heart will finally mend? _

It was one of his bad days, he can tell.

He woke up from a nightmare—he was chasing her across a field, and no matter how much he tried to grasp her, she was always out of reach. Like Tantalus and his temptations, he tried and tried and tried, only to fail at each turn.

He felt tears trickling down from his eyes as he sat up. This time, the pain in his chest was too much to bear, his head was pounding, and he felt the urge to scream his lungs out until his throat bled. He was angry and sad and disappointed all at the same time.

If he could only see her again.

If he could only hold her again.

If he could only kiss her again.

If he could only hear her voice again.

Then perhaps...the pain will go away. Everything will be as it once were. Everything will be okay. No more tears, no more sleepless nights.

Then perhaps...it wouldn’t feel as if the world around him had crumbled to dust. It wouldn’t feel like the end.

Alas, there was no way to bring her back, not even the power of the gods combined. All he had left to do is to grieve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yep...another songfic, and sad one, too. I got to listen to Tether by Leo Xia while roaming around on Soundcloud and it gave me an idea of writing about Tai when Summer disappeared (and presumably died).


End file.
